Rating: ***
Obviously, this ain’t your mama’s Snow
White. Not just because the titular princess is played by vampire bait
emo-queen Kristen Stewart, and not just because Charlize Theron paints the evil
queen as one of her recurrent sexpot roles, but because the film revels in the
style implied by the name of the original Snow White authors: Grimm.
Under the supervision of commercial director
Rupert Sanders, Snow White becomes a Tolkien-like epic across a
sprawling fantasy landscape to battle improbable evil forces to save the
kingdom from evil. And because of that, it’s less a damsel in distress-y tale
where the limp and weak princess needs constant saving. Well it kind of is, but
at least there’s a feeling that although Snow White may need occasionally
(frequent) rescues, she’s not waiting for rescuers, be they drunken hunters, or
seven little dwarves.
In this Snow White, trouble comes
when the grief stricken king rescues the beautiful captive Ravenna (Theron)
from an evil army. But Ravenna has her own dark agenda, and after seducing the king, she murders
him on their wedding night, seizes his kingdom and locks up his daughter Snow
White (Stewart) high up in the castle tower. Years later, Ravenna is told by
her magic mirror that she’s not the fairest anymore, but if she wants the title
forever she’ll have to literally take the heart of Snow White.
Here’s where the fairy tale goes off its
traditional course for a more post-modern turn: Snow White uses a rusty nail to
strike Ravenna’s brother (Sam Spruell) when he comes to collect her for dinner.
She runs through the castle, evades the guards, escapes through the sewer,
steals a horse and rides through the dark forest before the bad guys are able
to catch up with her. Like Robert Munsch’s Paper Bag Princess, this
royal knows how to handle herself.
In this movie, Snow White even has a
“Prince Ronald.” Not that Snow’s long-lost childhood love William (Sam Claflin)
is superficial and self-absorbed, but William as the story’s prince, doesn’t
serve a tremendous function. Indeed, the Huntsman (played by Thor himself,
Chris Hemsworth) is probably closer to being Snow White’s love interest here,
although I don’t think that’s the point. Whether a matter of function or a
matter of chemistry, it only helps the story’s new narrative, Snow White is not
(just) the object of romantic desire, but a symbol of freedom from the evil,
youth sucking claws of Ravenna. Sure, there’s still a poison apple and a kiss, but the tone and
intention of those scenes is changed I think.
But while the screenplay does some
interesting things with the story and its inherent archetypes, it is a letdown
in some regards. It feels like the story wants to do so many things, but its
running time is an issue and thus it all seems rather crammed. In the end it
seems as if Ravenna’s forces go down so pitifully that you’re wondering what took the
cowering masses of the kingdom so long to take her down. The time between
Snow’s escape and climactic showdown seems like a series of checkpoints, and
though it comes across as a Lord of the Rings-style epic journey, Snow
White lacks Rings’ leisurely indulgence.
But the joy of Snow White is how it
plays against expectations. Theron as the evil queen never ceases to be
mesmerizing, and the actress throws herself into the part and all the assorted
goo that comes with it. It’s actually surprising how much Theron gets away
with, from some not so subtly implied incest between Ravenna and her brother,
to the fact that Ravenna practically orgasms after she kills the king.
Against Theron, it’s hard for Stewart to
keep up in the much blander role of the movie’s heroine, but unlike the
majority of movie fandom, I find Stewart perfectly lovely and talented, and
she’s at least believable as a butt-kicking princess in shining armour. She
struggles in the giving of inspirational and commanding speeches, but she
doesn’t come across as wholly out of place in the fairy tale world of the film.
Hemsworth is perfectly fine as the
Huntsman, but really that’s all you can say about the character. It’s said that
he had a wife, and after her death succumbed to despair and alcoholism, thus
making him the type of brigand that I compare favourably to Harrison Ford’s
portrayal of Han Solo in Star Wars. What’s missing though is what it is
about Snow White that changes the Huntsman’s mind about turning her over to the
queen, and the reason why he sticks around after he turns on the queen’s
lackeys.
But where the film falls flat repeatedly is
the hints at story threads that never get played up (or might get played up in
a sequel). There’s hints that Ravenna is quite mad, as we see a scene where she talks to the golden
cloaked figure that comes out of her mirror, but she seems to be the only one
that sees him. The assembled dwarves have a beef with the queen, but it’s never
explained what that is. It’s also never explained how Snow White can seemingly
commune with the giant stag, or why the bridge troll retreats when she looks in
his eyes. And it’s also never made clear why the land actually withers as Ravenna rules, and
comes back to life when Snow White takes back her throne (a meme borrowed from The
Chronicles of Narnia).
Snow White and the Huntsman is a middle of the road fantasy epic that has some interesting things
in it, and has an interesting spin on a classic. It’s a cover tune, and a
decent one at that. It’s a cover that feels like there’s reason and idea for it
to exist although no one, least of all the filmmakers, seem to know what that
is. Naturally, a sequel is already in the works, and I’d be interested to see
what the filmmakers can make of the story now that Snow White’s “origins” have
been established.
Either way, the film should make feminist
critics of the Twilight films happy, for at least this time Kristen
Stewart plays a princess that can save herself.
